Life Amid the Flames
by TD90
Summary: A small difference in the Chamber of Secrets, thrusts Harry and Ginny onto a different path. What happens now that they are living amid the flames?
1. Chapter 1

The Chamber of Secrets was empty but for two boys, a young girl, a fiery phoenix and a gigantic dead snake. The two boys, one lying on the floor, the other standing over him, faced each other.

The youngest boy, lay on his back, his head propped up by a pillar behind him. He wore what looked like a school uniform that had once been clean and tidy, but now was a mess of slime and dirt. Ripped, torn and covered in a dark stain that on closer inspection looked like blood.

He had pure black hair, emerald green eyes, framed by a pair of round spectacles and a scar, bright against the pale skin of his fore head in the distinctive shape of a lightening bolt. Someone who didn't know him, would've guessed his age at a small eleven year old or a more likely ten year old. To which the boy would've replied with an indignant tone that he was twelve closer to thirteen years old.

Of course the observer could be forgiven his mistake, given the twin lack of height and weight of the boy, the pale skin and the overall sense of slight ill health he portrayed. The boy lay limply on the floor, his back to one of the many pillars circling the room. His breathing was shallow and quick, and he held his left arm tight to his chest. The dark blemish that stained his clothes seemed to originate from this limb.

He trembled as he lay, poison flowing through his veins, making his muscles bunch and his mind foggy. He shivered, his body seemingly too hot then all at once the freezing chill of the stone he lay against reached into his bones.

The older boy stood in front of the younger, a giant corpse of a huge snake, sixty feet long, behind him. He too wore a school uniform, but his seemed curiously outdated, as if he just stepped through from the past. He looked to be around sixteen or seventeen years old, he was a tall boy, and he too had pale skin, and black hair which was combed to the one side in a smart looking parting.

From an objective point of view, he could be called handsome, even pretty. Yet there was something about him, perhaps in his eyes, that invited a certain wariness. A coldness that suggested the cruelty and violence within.

Of course more important was the fact that he was slightly translucent, the edges to his body were blurry and he seemed to exude an intangibleness, as if wasn't quite occupying the same space as everyone else.

The older boy leaned over the younger, a cruel smirk on his face.

"Your dead, Harry Potter," said Riddle. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying." Said Riddle, a pleased smile crossing his face.

With a flutter of feathers, Fawkes had landed next to the younger boy. His bright plumage lighting the room with a soft orange glow. Harry Potter for that was name, looked down at the phoenix.

Harry blinked. Fawkes head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers.

"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time. I'm in no hurry."

Harry felt drowsy. Everything around him seemed to be spinning.

"So ends the famous Harry Potter," said Riddle's distant voice. "Alone in the chamber of Secrets, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry…. She bought you twelve years of borrowed time, but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must…."

"If this is dying," thought Harry. "It's not so bad." Though the pain didn't seem to be getting any better.

The chamber remained blurry and dark. Harry gave his head a little shake, trying to clear his vision. He felt Fawkes head against his shoulder, he thought he saw a pearly patch of tears shining around the wound, the blood flow had stopped but the wound hadn't closed and the skin around the angry red stab wound was turning black, tracing like a spiderweb along his veins.

"Get away, bird," said Riddle's voice suddenly. "Get away from him…. I said get away!"

Harry raised his head. Riddle was pointing Harry's wand at Fawkes; there was a band like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet.

"Phoenix tears…" said Riddle quietly staring at Harry's arm. "Of course … healing powers, I forgot.."

He looked into Harry's face. "But to you, I think it won't make a difference," he poked Harry's wand into the wound, forcing a groan from Harry. "Too much poison in your blood, for it to make a difference."

"But I think I'll prefer too do it myself, more satisfaction that way, you see." He smiled mockingly.

He raised his wand…..

Then, in a rush of wings, Fawkes has soared back overhead and something fell into Harry's lap….the diary.

For a split second, both Harry and Riddle, wand still raised, stared at it. Then, without thought, without considering, pushing through the crippling pain he felt, Harry seized the Basilisk fang on the floor next to him and plunged it straight into the heart of the book.

There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry's hands, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then…He had gone.

Harry's wand fell to the floor with a clatter and there was silence. Silence except for the steady drip drip of ink still oozing from the diary. The basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right through it.

Harry lay there, trying to control his breathing, trying not to scream, as the venom poisoning his body, tortured his muscles and nerves. It was all he could do, to lie still, and feel the cool stone floor beneath his back.

With Riddle gone, Fawkes felt it was safe enough to glide to a clattering landing next to Harry. A splendid mess of scarlet and gold feathers, he came to a halt, next to Harry's head.

He leaned over Harry's face to peer down at him through his black beady eyes. Harry stared back, trying to see through his foggy vision, it seemed to him that Fawkes had a sorrowful look on his avian face.

"I guess it's true what he said, huh Fawkes." Harry coughed out. "Too much venom, for you to do anything about it."

Fawkes let out a shrill cry, that conveyed his sorrow and despair, it echoed of the stone walls, multiplying until it seemed like a flock of phoenix's were crying in the chamber.

The noise tore at Harry's heart, making him feel his own mortality, yet somehow it lifted his spirits, and left him curiously content.

"It's ok, Fawkes, you did your best. You were magnificent against the monster, you really saved me there, if it wasn't for you, I would never have been to stop Riddle." Again he coughed, wracking his body.

"Just stay with me please, don't let me die on my own. I don't want to die alone," he rasped, his own tears joining Fawkes as they dripped onto his chest.

Fawkes stared back at him, his gaze inscrutable, then he gave a small chirp, and flicked his beak up to point to a corner of the chamber. At the same time, Harry heard a quiet moan, coming from the same direction that Fawkes pointed too.

Gingerly lifting his head, he looked over in the direction the sound had come from. There was a ragged bundle of black cloth huddled in a corner. Again he heard a small groan, and he saw the bundle twitch.

"Ginny" he whispered through clenched teeth, and as if she had heard him, the small bundle of cloth, made another slight movement.

"Is she ok? Is she going to be alright?" he asked Fawkes. The phoenix turned to take a long look, then turned back and shook his head slowly, with a sad look in his eyes. "But she's alive now, and Riddle's gone, she should be fine right?" he demanded from the phoenix. Fawkes hopped from foot to foot and gave a negative shrug in return.

Harry closed his eyes and tried not to cry, he had come down here, to save Ginny and he had failed. And now they were both going to die in this stupid chamber, in the dark and the cold. He had stopped Lord Voldemort from coming back as Tom Riddle, and by killing the basilisk, he had stopped it from killing any students in the school above. He knew that if he had to make the same choices again, then he would, there wasn't anyway he couldn't try and save Ginny, or decide to go into the chamber alone. But he didn't want to die and he decided angrily there was no way in hell that he was going to let him or Ginny die alone down here.

With a stifled whimper he rolled onto his stomach, the arm with the fang wound, flopping over with him. Fawkes took flight, and started to circle the chamber, piping his hauntingly beautiful music through the cavern. The song of the phoenix raised Harry's spirits, and allowed him to with a yell, to rise to his knees. He grabbed the elbow of his injured arm with his good one, and held it close to his chest. Struggling to his feet, Harry staggered as the room waved dizzily in front of his eyes, he dropped back onto one knee, trying with all his might not to throw up. Controlling himself took precious seconds, in which he felt himself weaken perceptively, he knew that if he got up and fell again then he would never be able to rise again.

Fawkes swept past his head, still singing his song, and the brief glow of energy this act gave him, allowed him to stand shakily, his strength almost gone. He strained to see the dark blur with a red top, that was Ginny to his fogged eyes. He couldn't see exactly how far away she was, but he knew it wasn't too far. One foot in front of the other, slowly, carefully, Harry stumbled over to the other side of the chamber. As he grew nearer, his sight coalesced into a clearer image, Ginny lay on her side, her arms gripping tightly around her chest, as if to hold something in. She looked normal in the pallid light given off by the chamber's torches. The only indication that something was wrong was the incredible paleness of her skin. It shone in the torchlight, and when Harry collapsed into a heap against her, he felt how deathly cold she was.

For a long second, Harry thought he was too late and she was already dead, but at the touch of his trembling fingers against her cheek, she made the most minute moan and shivered weakly against his fingertips.

"Shhhhh… it's alright, I'm here Ginny," he whispered, trying to comfort her. "It's me, Harry."

She didn't reply and her eyes remained closed, but she stopped shivering. Harry half crawled, half pulled himself up so that he could hold and gently pull Ginny's body so that she lay, with her head on his chest and his arms around her.

Ginny's eyes stayed shut, and Harry knew that she wasn't likely to ever open them again. He hugged her, "When they find us, at least the Weasley's will know I didn't let her die alone," he thought. His brain was becoming slow, his thoughts thick and muddled.

He looked down at the little girl in his lap, and his last thought before he slipped into unconsciousness was of how pretty, the fiery crimson colour of her hair was.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

As soon as he spotted Harry's head slowly dropping onto his chest, Fawkes finished his song. The boy was no longer able to hear and take heart from his music. The flaming bird, seemingly the only bright light in the chamber, completed his final circling flight and soared towards the two children. The room was now completely silent except for the shallow, nearly imperceptible sound of breathing from the two deathly ill children, and the feathery whisper of Fawkes gliding through the air.

He landed, his talons clattering against the stone floor, and slowly waddled over to the two prone bodies. His beady black eyes took in the scene they portrayed, Ginny, her appearance normal, expect for her unnatural paleness, lying in the lap of Harry, his clothes filthy and torn, scratches on his face and a visible spreading bloodstain on his shoulder.

He pondered the situation he saw in front of them, his tears couldn't save either of them, the basilisk venom had spread through too much of Harry's body for their healing power to counteract. Ginny's aborted soul possession wasn't the type of wound that he could help, and the diary had caused too much damage for her own soul to heal naturally. They were dying, the both of them, and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it.

Fawkes settled down to wait for the end, he could tell that it wouldn't take too long for either of them. As their breathing further faltered, he grieved for them, or at least he felt as close to grief as an immortal avian was capable of feeling. Phoenix's didn't feel emotions as humans understood them, an evolutionary trait developed to keep an immortal intellect sane. Instead they lived completely in the here and now, their whole focus the present, it kept them from going mad, and it also allowed them to be forever in the light, their morals uncompromised by past decisions. They only had the very loosest of society's, formed of mainly friendships and a respect for the more experienced, older phoenixes. Even in their culture of independence, Fawkes was considered to be somewhat of a maverick, it was one of the reasons that he hung around with Albus Dumbledore so much, they were both what their own species would describe as being a bit peculiar, strange and a little bit odd.

Watching the kids in front of him, Fawkes felt something stir in his heart. "This wasn't right, something like this shouldn't be allowed to happen," he thought.

Fighting with Harry against the Basilisk had started new feelings to rise within him, he had felt a comradeship and a fighting spirit he had not felt for a long time. But a stronger and a more unfamiliar emotion was beginning to well up from deep inside his scarlet breast, it was anger, hot and thick, anger at the shade of Tom Riddle, anger at the evil beast that he had blinded. His fury rose to heights it had never reached before at the fact that two of the most innocent souls he had ever known were dying before him, and he could do nothing to alter it.

As his fury reached a crescendo, as he raged against the injustice, his thoughts desperately searched for a way to save the two children. They quickly thought of new plans and ideas, before just as quickly dismissing them as impossible or sure failures. Then in a bolt of pure inspiration, he considered an idea that he had never thought of before, that to his knowledge, no phoenix had ever thought of before. It was a mad, impossible idea, the kind of original thinking that only the mad or the genius and the fine line between the two could have come up with.

He knew that if he did this, then there was a chance he would be killing Harry and Ginny himself, but of course since they were inevitably dead anyway, it wasn't such a big risk. Beyond this issue, he didn't know what the other, older phoenix's would think of this course of action, but he could guess and he didn't think that they were going to be too happy about this, was an understatement.

But Fawkes didn't care, he was alone in this huge, cavernous chamber, the smell of dankness and decay surrounding him, and the small huddled form of two children in the corner, near him. And if he had the smallest chance, to save the two students, then he would take it, and dam the consequences. Resolution crystallised within him, he had made up his mind, and now nothing would sway him from his path. Harry and Ginny would die or they could live, and with his decision presented to him like that, there was only choice he could make.

Fawkes gave one last lingering look towards Harry and Ginny, the two of them, one curled up on top of the other, were clearly close to their final breath. Their breathing had become weaker and fainter and to his magically sensitive eyes the black shadow of death was already creeping over them.

He flapped his wings powerfully, beating at the air until the gusts stirred the clothes of the two children. With a jump, he was airborne, climbing rapidly to the ceiling of the chamber. Still pushing his wings forcefully against the air, he quickly gained speed, circling in large loops around the circumference of the chamber.

As he got faster and faster, his feathers already a golden red, began to glow brighter, their trailing edges producing small sparks. Then with a burst of light and a whooshing noise his wings became two incandescent arcs of flame, his speed multiplied, and it now would have been difficult for an observer standing in the centre of the room to turn fast enough to keep his eyes on the bird.

As he burned, Fawkes sang, a rising note, that seemed to be part of a greater orchestral movement, as if all the birds in the heavens lent their voices to it. Now he appeared to be made entirely of fire, from beak to tail, wingtip to wingtip, he was all aflame. Yet he seemed to have suddenly become more present, more real, as if only know were he allowed to show his true appearance, and what was before only a disguise, a lame imitation. His music rose to a climax, a sound that reached beyond the cage of our world, and pushed at the boundary, the sound, reverberated around the chamber and shook dust from the roof.

Now so fast, he was a blur of streaming gold flames, that left after images upon the eyes, he dived at Harry and Ginny. The instant he touched the slumped huddle of the pair, there was an explosion of fire, light and noise. The fireball, that had become Fawkes, Harry and Ginny, burned higher and higher, the stone floor beneath them, started to glow a cherry red and the flames licked at the ceiling, a full sixty feet above the ground.

Fawkes's song had not stopped, but spiralled continually upward, it had now gained a new harmony, and the piping music now seemed to be sung in a trio of tunes. The colour of the fire changed, from a scarlet red, to a deep purple, then it switched to a sapphire blue. All the while the columns around the room projected their vertical shadows upon the multihued walls. Then at last the colour slowly moved to a pure white, the music rose ever higher, in concert with the flames until with one last earth trembling note, and flash of light, everything stopped and the chamber of secrets was once more plunged back into darkness.

It remained quiet and black for a long interim minute, as if the room held it's breath, then with a pop, a lone torch flared back to life and light. It was followed in ones, and twos, then fives and tens by the other torches, until they had all relit. The chamber, once again alight with a ghastly green glow.

The basilisk's corpse remained unchanged, lying in it's huge bulk upon it's side, so too, did the small black diary, and fang of the basilisk, lie unmoved and unchanged upon the floor. Yet lastly, in the corner where Harry and Ginny had once lain, close to death, there had been changes.

Harry and Ginny now lay on their backs, side by side, Ginny's right hand held in Harry's left, between them. Their clothing remained unchanged, Ginny's clean and tidy, Harry's filthy, blood stained, ripped and shredded. Their physical health though had changed dramatically, Ginny no longer looked pale and pallid as corpse, her cheeks had a healthy glow to them, she breathed deeply and freely, her hair shone in the torchlight. She looked like she had simply fallen asleep, a small smile upon her lips, as if she enjoyed a happy dream. Harry's injuries had disappeared, the scratches visible on his face and hands, gone as if they had been washed off. The skin of his shoulder, showing through the torn clothing was whole and unblemished, the blood stain surrounding it seemingly to have no origin. The marks of the poison he had had flowing inside him had vanished, his veins no longer black and sick.

He too had a small smile upon his sleeping face, as if he as well had sweet dreams. His hand unconsciously flexed and gripped Ginny's tighter, she too squeezed back, and in sync their smiles grew a tiny bit wider.

There was an addition to the pair that had not been there before the fire. Upon Harry's chest there was a small pile of ashes, a little cone of soot, that moved up and down on the rise of Harry's chest. The cone twitched, there was definite movement, as something within the pile shifted, a small ashy avalanche trickled down from the top as a tiny bald head thrust up through the soot. The baby bird gave a quiet chirp and looked around at the scene he found himself in, he stared hard at Harry's face, then twisted his head to look at Ginny. He lingered on her face, then gave a satisfied little squawk, Fawkes didn't know what was going to happen now, but he knew that they weren't in danger any longer. He turned around in the ash pile, and burrowed back into it, he wriggled happily in pleasure, he felt warm and content, he settled down to sleep knowing that nothing here could harm the children, and sooner or later help would arrive.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHHPHP

Ginny didn't want to open her eyes, she had come back to full consciousness slowly, in fits and starts, and with the return of consciousness came the return of memory. Her body felt heavy, and she felt cool sheets against her skin, in the background she picked up the low mumble of voices talking. Her mind raced, yet she determinedly kept her eyelids shut, she didn't want to open them.

She didn't know where she was, she didn't know what time or date it was, how she had got there or who was with her. What she did know and remember was Tom, trusted Tom, trusted Tom taking her down to the Chamber of Secrets and the hideous spectre forming out of the diary. The feeling as her life force, her very soul, was drawn out her body, so slowly, so ever agonisingly slowly. And she remembered his last words to her, before she slipped into the darkness.

"I'm killing you Ginny Weasley, I'm going to take your soul, and live, and you're going to die." He had whispered to her, standing fully formed over her kneeling body. "You should be honoured," he had said.

"You're going to be the instrument of my return, little Ginny Weasley is going to help Lord Voldemort return to his rightful place," he said. "And when your cold and dead, Harry Potter is going to come down here, looking for his best friend's little sister, and I'm going to kill him too."

She tried to fight back, tried to hold onto her soul, but he was too strong, his hold on her too complete, the awful things he said, tortured her more. She fell into despair, as all she could do was lie on the floor and struggle to keep her eyes open, and then she couldn't even manage that.

These were the last things she could remember, and they terrified her. What had happened? How was she alive right now, what had happened to Tom Riddle, and what had he done to Harry? These questions kept her from opening her eyes, made her heartbeat thrum as fast as a hummingbird, filling with terror.

She was going to be expelled, maybe sent to Azkaban, sent away from her family. She had helped Lord Voldemort return, she deserved to be in prison, had helped him petrify other students, petrify Hermione, Harry's and Ron's friend. And now Tom, had probably killed others, killed Harry, and it was all her fault. She was torn, afraid to open her eyes, and find out what happened, yet similarly she was desperate for answers, to know what had happened to leave her alive, when the last thing she could remember was dying, so she lay still and quiet, stuck in limbo, held captive by her fear.

"Ginny?" She heard a quiet voice call out hesitantly, and her heart leapt in her chest.

Her eyes opened in a flash, as she looked over to her left, from where she had heard the voice. Harry was lying down on a bed, with his upper body propped up on his elbows, looking at her from the next bed over. Her eyes urgently scanned his form.

"He was alive… he was alive," her thoughts rejoiced. Harry kept looking at her, his own eyes staring at hers in a desperate manner. She took in her surroundings, she appeared to be in the hospital wing, in a private room off the main ward, she recognised the the beds and decor, the smell also clued her in, the faint hints of medical potions and cleaning fluid, leaving a distinctive trace.

Her's and Harry's beds were the only two in the room, and bright sunlight shone through a wide window in the wall. "How had she got here," she thought. "And with Harry too?"

"Ginny?" Harry's quiet voice asked again. She realised that she had ignored him the first time, and she quickly snapped her gaze back to his face, he was looking at her like he couldn't believe that she was real. She gave a small nod in return, her chin touching her chest in a quick bob, she still heard the sound of talking voices outside the ajar door of their room, and she didn't want to attract anyone's attention, scared of what would happen now.

"Ginny….your alive, your fine?" He asked her, sounding confused.

"I'm fine, I think." She answered in a tiny voice, her gaze dropping from his, the shame flooding up through her. "But I don't understand, what happened, how am I here? The last thing I remember was Tom coming alive, up out of the diary, and then he said….he said….." She trailed off, tears beginning to drip from her eyes. The guilt pushed at her, and then then it all came out.

"Oh…Harry, it was me, I was the one who set the snake on the school, I talked to Tom in the diary and he made me do it, I swear….he made me do it…." The whole story burst from her lips. After she had finished telling Harry her story, she started to sob quietly into the bed sheets. "I'm going to be expelled, or sent to prison, and everyone will hate me." She sobbed a bit louder.

"It's alright Ginny, don't worry I believe you, Tom Riddle told me what happened, he told me that you couldn't help it, and I'll tell everyone else that it wasn't your fault." She heard Harry say. The words reassured, but she still had so many questions.

"But what happened….the last thing I remembered was Riddle and the chamber, how did I get here, and what happened to Riddle and you?" she asked desperately.

Harry looked first angry then sad, he spoke quickly at her, "You shouldn't believe anything that Riddle said, Ginny, he was a liar." He said determinedly, trying to convince her. And then he told her, about finding the diary, the spiders, him and Ron hearing she was gone, Lockhart, finding the chamber, and then confronting Riddle and the Basilisk alongside Fawkes and the sorting hat.

Ginny listened enthralled, despite herself, she couldn't believe that Harry had done this for her, even if it was for Ron's little sister, but the guilt still ate at her, and it continued to do so as Harry started to trail off. He started to speak with a confused sounding tone, he told her about getting bitten by the basilisk, her heart stuttered at hearing that, how he had then used the same fang to stab the diary and saw Riddle disappear. Speaking even slower now, he described how Fawkes had come to him, how the phoenix had tried to heal him, then given up, how he had spotted her and walked over to her.

He paused and then carried on, but giving off an impression of perhaps skipping a detail or two, he told her that his last memory was off falling unconscious next to her. "How we both got from there to here, and how we're both fine, I don't know," he said sounding puzzled.

"Maybe I can shed some light on that point," said a light, calm voice from the doorway. Ginny jumped in place, her head spun too stare at the person, who stood next to the door and had obviously been there, listening to Harry's story for quite some time. Albus Dumbledore's bright blue eyes, twinkled at them through his half moon spectacles.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"Professor!" Harry shouted loudly, his shock transforming into joy. If Dumbledore was back, then everything was bound to turn out alright, he thought. His body suddenly felt much lighter, he could tell Dumbledore everything and he would be able to sort it out.

"Professor," he said not quite as loudly, "Professor, what happened? Me and Ginny were in the Chamber of Secrets and the last thing I remember is….." His voice fell silent before bursting out again. "Professor, it was Tom Riddle, I mean Lord Voldemort who opened the Chamber, he's been doing it this entire year, no one else, I think I got rid of him, but you've got to check Professor, sir." He said all of this at a blur.

"Harry…Harry…Harry," said Dumbledore quietly, the twinkle in his eyes growing bigger, "I have never been more proud of a student under my care, than I am of you at the moment." He said to Harry, smiling at him through his beard. "And you too Miss Weasley, unless I miss my guess, must've shown tremendous will power and courage this year too," turning to her.

"But I have to mention that I have known it was Lord Voldemort or Tom Riddle opening the Chamber, since Halloween, I must confess though that I had no idea how he was opening the Chamber, since his current whereabout I believe are somewhere in deepest, darkest Albania." He spoke to the both of them. "Rest assured that I hold Tom Riddle, fully and solely responsible for the actions of the Heir of Slytherin, and that no one else will receive blame for their part in this incident."

Harry felt relief, spread throughout his body, Dumbledore knew, or at least understood, that it wasn't Ginny's fault, everything was going to be ok. He slumped back against his pillows, now his thoughts ran to how they had arrived at the Hospital Wing, and if Ron was ok.

"Sir, do you know how Ron and Hermione are?" He asked, "And how did we get here?"

"Rest assured, my dear boy, both your friends are well, Miss Granger remains in a petrified state, but the mandrake solution is ready to be administered almost immediately. Your friend and brother is in perfect health and is anxious to see the both of you." Dumbledore said to them.

"As to how you arrived here, well that would primarily be my doing, when I arrived back at the school earlier yesterday, I found a ghost waiting for me in a my office. Can you guess which ghost it was Harry?" Dumbledore asked still smiling.

"Moaning Myrtle" guessed Harry hesitantly.

"Precisely Harry, Yes it was the shade of the late Miss Myrtle Fielding, who awaited me in my office, with a most unusual tale to tell me." He said, "she led me to her Bathroom and from there I was able to descend the tunnel to find young Mr Weasley and Professor Lockhart in a spot of bother. Mr Weasley told me what he knew, and I advised them both to remain there, whereupon I continued forward." He carried on.

"When I entered the open door of the Chamber of Secrets, I was astounded to discover the body of the largest Basilisk I have ever heard of. I also found the two of you lying still on the Chamber floor, as well as a few rather eclectic items. I immediately levitated both of you, and hurried back up to the Hospital Wing, picking up Mr Weasley and Professor Lockhart upon the way." He broke off.

"She told me that you were both physically fine and were simply in a deep sleep, and that it was best to let you stay in it. Since that occurred yesterday I have been mostly trying to reassure your family Miss Weasley and your friends Mr Potter, that you are both fine, they have already been in to see you already and are due back for another visit soon. I have also been awaiting your awakening, as I have been very much looking forward to you two explaining, to me what must be a very fascinating story of what occurred in the Chamber, and especially how do these odd items fit into it."

He laid the Sword of Gryffindor, the Sorting Hat, a small black diary and a broken off fang onto the foot of Harry's bed. "As well as an explanation for this," he reached into one of the voluminous pockets of his lurid purple robes and pulled out what looked like a half plucked chicken.

"Fawkes was not due a burning day, for another two months, for him to have undergone one, tells me that something important must have occurred." He said. Fawkes glared grumpily up at Dumbledore, before giving a friendlier look towards Harry. "As you can see, Fawkes can be a bit vain, and when he is at this stage of growth he, I'm afraid to say doesn't look his best."

Dumbledore walked around to stand between the two beds, which Harry and Ginny lay on, pulling his wand from his sleeve, he gave it a little flick, and a large cushion filled chintz armchair appeared between the iron cast beds with a pop. He settled himself down in it and chuckled at the looks on Harry and Ginny's faces. "At my age, you start to take a little more care about your comfort," he said, "Now let us begin what must be a thrilling tale." He said leaning back.

Harry told him everything, Ginny chimed in, with what parts she knew, or when Dumbledore asked a relevant question. He asked them about, the diary, fighting the basilisk, when had Fawkes arrived and what he had done, and then finally the what had happened when Harry stabbed the Diary with the basilisk fang.

After they had finished, he sat there in his comfy armchair, stroking his beard and looking thoughtful, Harry watched him as his hand made the repetitive motion, obviously a long ingrained habitat. He saw Dumbledore's eyes glance to the little black diary, then to the basilisk fang, then back to the diary where his gaze lingered for a long while. Listening closely, Harry thought he overhead Dumbledore's low mumbling.

"Mmmmhhh…..Basilisk Venom…It's a possibility…." He murmured as his stare sharpened onto the diary.

"Professor…Sir," Ginny spoke up in a whisper, "What is going to happen to me now, I helped Tom, do those awful things, I should be punished." She started to cry again.

"Now..Now…Miss Weasley, much older and wiser wizards and witches have been tricked before by Tom Riddle, there shall be no punishment, and your role, in this affair shall not be disclosed to the school, beyond being an innocent bystander." Dumbledore told her grandfatherly.

"But….But…" Ginny tried to say.

"You must put aside the bad, and focus on the good, Miss Weasley, you will have come out of this situation a much wiser and therefore stronger witch, and I expect great things from you in the future." He spoke over her.

Harry agreed with Dumbledore, it wasn't Ginny's fault, he too had been tricked by Tom Riddle into believing that Hagrid, his friend, had been behind the opening of the chamber before. He knew how clever and cunning Tom was, and that as Lord Voldemort he would only grow in power and evil. Ginny should forgive herself, it was probably only her will power that stopped the basilisk from permanently killing any of the victims, no one had been killed or injured badly and the students who had been petrified were now going to be back to normal very soon.

He admired her courage in facing the situation, he thought she was brave to take the blame for her actions even if it was unwarranted, Ginny should never had this happen to her, she was too much a good person to be touched by evil, but he thought that now like him she would forever be marked by the touch of Lord Voldemort.

Harry then asked the question which he had been most curious about. "Sir….How come me and Ginny are both ok, when the last thing I remember is that I had been bitten by the Basilisk, and was getting worse, Ginny wasn't waking up after the diary possessed her, and Fawkes couldn't do anything to help either of us. Then I pass out and then the next thing we're both perfectly healthy and Fawkes is a baby?"

"To be honest harry," Dumbledore looked intently into Harry's eyes, "I haven't the foggiest. You both were at the centre of some very powerful and very rare magical forces, into which very little research has been done, I could only guess and then only loosely."

"Oh…" was all Harry could say in reply.

"Best put it out of your mind, Harry, somethings are best not to dwell on if no answers are forthcoming," said Dumbledore solemnly. Harry and Ginny both nodded, both happy to be simply alive and well.

"One last thing sir," Harry spoke quietly, "In the chamber Riddle, said we were strangely alike him and I, and well I can speak Parseltongue and the sorting hat wanted to put me in….."

"In Slytherin, Harry," Dumbledore smiled and raised an eyebrow. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Ginny jump at his words, and his heart sank, he hoped that Ginny wouldn't hold this fact against him, or that it wouldn't scare her.

"Harry, the reason that you can speak Parseltongue, and that the sorting hat wanted to put you in Slytherin, was because Lord Voldemort could speak Parseltongue, and was in Slytherin. On the night that he tried to kill you, Lord Voldemort inadvertently transferred some of his powers to you." Said Dumbledore.

Continuing softly he said, "Tom Riddle or Lord Voldemort is the true last descendant of Salazar Slytherin and therefore the Heir of Slytherin, you need not fear becoming like him Harry, as it is our choices rather than our powers who make us what we truly are, and from the choices you have already made, I can tell you are becoming a good, and honourable young wizard."

"Right, sir," said Harry, he already felt much better after talking to Dumbledore and it wasn't until now that he truly started to calm down, in the certain knowledge that everything would be alright.

"If that is everything," Dumbledore waited for the two of them to nod, "then in that case, I suspect that there are some very anxious people waiting outside this door, and I think it around time, that I let them in." He smiled, "thought I will tell you, that I have already explained the main details I had worked out, and young Mr Weasley filled in the rest, so you should not have too many questions asked of you." And he opened the door.

Mrs Weasley was the first person through the door, teary eyed and tired looking, she rushed towards Ginny, who had a look of perseverance on her face as well as relief Harry noticed. The rest of the Weasleys followed, Arthur, Percy, Fred and George and then Ron. They crowded around both Harry and Ginny, and for several minutes the sound was too loud too hear anything but fragments of individual sentences. But Harry caught the main gist of it as recriminations, tearful thank you's and apologies and a overwhelming sense of relief and happiness.

Harry talked and laughed, and repeatedly told the story from his viewpoint whenever someone would ask, the Weasley's were immensely grateful and kept thanking him over and over, Harry had to repeatedly say it was no problem and he had no real choice. But they wouldn't take no for an answer, finally Molly Weasley simply grabbed him and hugged him until the breath left his lungs, but that was alright in Harry's opinion.

After a while, Harry heard Dumbledore cough from behind the celebrating red headed family, "Arthur, Molly, I believe Madame Pomfrey wishes to examine Harry and Ginny, one last time before they are released from her care," he indicated the mediwitch herself, standing next to Dumbledore by the door, a smile upon her face.

The Weasley's quickly got out of her way, the boys being ushered away by Mrs Weasley, Madame Pomfrey walked forward and began to run her wand up and down the air above Ginny's body, she hummed to herself while she worked, her wand flickering and making small circling motions. Eventually she must have got the results she wanted, because she smiled and finished her evaluation.

"You are in perfect health, Miss Weasley, no sign of any trauma, and no sign of any lingering effects of such a dark magic. All in all, better than anyone could hope." She said.

She then walked over to Harry, and began repeating the same motions over him, this time when she worked, instead of humming, she asked him questions on what had happened to him, in the chamber. As soon as Harry mentioned getting bitten by the basilisk fang in his shoulder, she seemed to focus in on that area, after a couple of minutes she stopped and spoke.

"Now Mr Potter, you will have to tell me the truth, if you want the best medical service, there is no possible way a Basilisk has bitten, if you had even the smallest bit of it's venom in you then you'd surely be dead.' She said sternly to him.

"It did, right in this shoulder, it burned, and I felt it starting to spread before I passed out." Harry defended himself.

"Mr Potter, basilisk venom is one of the most toxic substances known to wizardkind, any of the scans I have just done would have picked up the smallest sample of venom, or if venom had ever come into contact with you. You are completely clean, perfectly healthy, as if you'd never been bitten." She said starting to get angry.

"Ah….Poppy," Dumbledore, broke into the conversation, from where he stood next to the door. "Mr Potter speaks the truth, in fact I have here," he held the up the tooth, "the actual fang he was stabbed with, it still has Mr Potter's blood on the tip."

Madame Pomfrey, turned green and quickly turned around, and hurriedly began applying much more intricate wand movements to Harry's shoulder, she continued like this for five minutes, sweat beading on her brow until she suddenly stopped.

"I don't understand," she said, "if you had been bitten, then there would be a mark, something, anything left behind to show how close to death you had come, but even using Healer grade spells I can't find a single mark on you."

She turned around and looked at Ginny, "you too have absolutely no sign of anything wrong, which again is frankly impossible, if what the Headmaster told me is true."

"You can even, and I can't believe I'm saying is, leave the hospital wing and return to the rest of the school straight away, just make sure that if you feel anything wrong or unusual, that you come straight back here for me to take a look." Said Madam Pomfrey, then with threw her hands up in the air and left the room at a frustrated trot.

Harry and Ginny looked to each other, then in unison began to rip the bed sheets of their lower halves and began looking for their clothes. Mrs Weasley instantly set up a clamour, trying to keep the two children in their beds, insisting that they needed their rest, and that they should stay in bed, she carried on nagging at the two, until Mr Weasley gently gripped her elbow and led her out of the room.

The recent infirmary escapees found their clean school uniforms handed to them by Ron, and Percy respectively and went into their individual changing rooms, to get out of their hospital pyjamas. Freshly showered and changed into clean clothes, the two of them both rejoined the others and left the infirmary.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Harry and Ginny, alongside her brothers, were walking along the final corridor leading to the Dumbledore's office, just before they reached the stone griffin guarding the spiral staircase, it slid to one side and they spotted a figure leaving the office in a great fury.

Harry felt the hatred, bubble up through him, as he recognised the man, Lucius Malfoy strode down the last steps, his expression twisted in a visage of anger and spite. As the group got closer to the angry wizard, he too recognised the students he was walking towards, his face developed an even more rage filled look, and his pace quickened, the cane in his left hand, striking the floor with an louder crack on each step.

As he got nearer to them, neither group nor wizard refused to move aside for the other, until finally Percy pulled Ginny and the twins to one side, against the wall, and Harry and Ron, reluctantly followed. Standing there, waiting for Lucius Malfoy to pass, Harry looked into the other man's eyes, they looked back at him furiously, angry hatred obvious, but Harry thought there was a hint of frustration and perhaps even a touch of desperation in the icy grey orbs too.

He grew level with Harry and the Weasley's, and for a second, Harry thought that he was going to pass them without saying a word, but suddenly he turned and faced Harry.

"You'll face, the same fate as your parents one day soon, boy," he sneered down at Harry. "One day you'll find out who here has the true power."

"Maybe, or maybe not," replied Harry, "I'm proud of my parents, I'd be happy if I could die half as well."

Malfoy didn't reply to this, just smiled hatefully, "You might get the chance to Potter." He swivelled on his heal and prepared to stride off again, but he seemed to catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye.

In one movement, he pushed past Harry and stood directly in front of Ginny, he invaded her personal space and angrily spat his words down at her, "You too girl, you should pick what you read more carefully I think." He smirked at her.

Then before Harry or her brothers could react, and get themselves between Ginny and Lucius Malfoy, she raised her foot and stamped down, the heel of her shoe pressing hard into the soft leather of Malfoy's expensive italian brocades. Malfoy, gave a strangled shout, and hopped onto one foot, then his hand made an aborted movement towards the wand holstered at his waist. Within that instant, Fred and George had moved into the gap between the two. Their own hands on their wands.

Lucius Malfoy slowly shifted his hand away from his hand, his gaze took in the group in front of him, as well as the approaching group of other school children at the end of the corridor and the member of staff with them. He stepped back gingerly, his foot still obviously in pain.

"All of you redheaded brats, and your blood traitor parents will one day be put in your rightful place, and I hope I'm there to see it." He hissed at them, too low for the onlookers to hear. "And when that happens, you'll regret this moment, I'll make sure that you do."

He finally turned and walked away, a slight limp in his step, as he did so Harry noticed the creature walking closely behind him, almost in Malfoy's shadow, it was Dobby, the house elf following his master down the corridor.

Once he had turned around the corner, Percy furiously rounded on Ginny, "What were you thinking Ginny, Mr Malfoy is an important man, he's close to Minister Fudge, Dad's boss." He shouted, "he could make it difficult for any of us to get a job, after we graduate,"

"You mean you, don't you Percy," Ginny said defiantly, "I will never give respect to that man, and if you didn't have your head up your ass then you wouldn't too." She walked past him, hitting his shoulder with her's as she did.

Harry and her other brothers followed her in support, none of them looking at Percy as they passed. In silence, they walked onto the upward moving spiral staircase and rode it up to the headmaster's office. Ginny led the way through the door and took a seat next to her parents who already in conversation with Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall who smiled at Harry and the others as they came in. Harry took a moment to take a closer look at her, she had deep bags under her eyes, which hinted at a lack of sleep in the last few nights, a few odd wisps of hair escaped the tight bun her hair was normally organised in and it was altogether the most ill kept Harry had ever seen her looking. But she had a small smile on her face, and the attitude of relief and delight that originated from her was almost visible.

His eyes looked around the room, it hadn't changed from what he could tell from when he had been in the office a couple of months ago, he focussed on Dumbledore's desk, and the objects placed on it. The bloody fang and the now clean sword, the sorting hat was back on his shelf, overlooking the room. But as Harry looked at the last object on the desk, an idea jumped into his mind. As the others were finding seats in the room, Harry leapt towards the desk, and the question rushed out of his mouth.

"Professor Dumbledore, can I borrow this diary!" he asked as his hand closed around the little black book.

"Certainly Harry, just be sure to bring it back," Dumbledore said, he said with chuckle, as if he had already guessed to the purpose of Harry's request.

"I will," he replied, as he ran back down the stairs, leaving behind a group of very confused and slightly worried friends, parents and teacher and one gleefully hopeful Headmaster. He hoped the mad idea, he had thought of, would work, it would free an oppressed creature and get a small bit of revenge against a deserving man.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

He felt a vague sense of satisfaction and pride, as he walked down to the feast that Dumbledore had asked McGonagall to organise, him and Ginny walked side by side down the stairs, he had freed Dobby and then watched him throw Lucius Malfoy down the very steps he was walking down now. Hopefully the rest of the school would stop believing that he was the Heir of Slytherin, as well the fact that the attacks would now stop, and above all the school would stay open, he wouldn't have to live all the time with the Dursleys.

The feeling felt like a hot, bright point within his chest, keeping him buoyant and carefree, ever since he had woken up in the hospital wing, it had been there, making him exhilarated and content, something he put aside to the good news he had received.

Harry had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like this. Everybody was in their pyjamas, and the celebration lasted all night. Harry didn't know whether the best bit was Hermione running toward him, screaming "You solved it! You solved it!" or Justin hurrying over from the Hufflepuff table to wring. his hand and apologise endlessly for suspecting him, or Hagrid turning up at half past three, cuffing Harry and Ron so hard on the shoulders that they were knocked into their plates of trifle, or his and Ron's four hundred points for Gryffindor securing the House Cup for the second year running, or Professor McGonagall standing up to tell them all that the exams had been canceled as a school treat ("Oh, no!" said Hermione), or Dumbledore announcing that, unfortunately, Professor Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to the fact that he needed to go away and get his memory back. Quite a few of the teachers joined in the cheering that greeted this news.

"Shame," said Ron, helping himself to a jam doughnut. "He was starting to grow on me."

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was only a couple of day's left of the school year, and to Harry they seemed to fly by, disappearing in a blaze of sunshine, lazy picnics on the lawn and games of quidditch in the sky. It was with only one day left at Hogwarts when Ginny managed to work up the courage and track Harry down for a conversation, Harry was alone, sitting in his favourite chair in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione and Ron busy packing in their respective dormitories. Simply whiling the hours away before dinner, and trying not to think about returning to Privet Drive, when Ginny nervously sat down in the seat next to him.

"Hi Harry, is it alright if I talk to you at the moment," she said, biting her lip and not looking him in the eye.

'Sure, is anything wrong?" he replied, sitting up straighter in his chair, he turned to look at her more fully. She sat with her legs crossed under her in the plush red armchair. Her hair half hiding her face in a scarlet waterfall, Harry was once again struck by the light from the fire shining off her tresses in copper radiance.

Ginny then seemed to half shrug, then in a peculiarly determined gesture, threw her hair back over her shoulder and looked Harry straight in his eye, "Nothings wrong, I'd just like to talk to you about some things…..please," she said, keeping her eyes on his.

Harry nodded his consent, he didn't mind mind Ginny asking him questions, and he also felt a curious inability to say no to anything Ginny suggested, the way she had stamped on Malfoy Sn's foot and her composure speaking to Dumbledore had left him very impressed by the girl. Plus when she had thrown her hair over her shoulder, he had inexplicably had the need to tuck a loose strand behind her ear, why, he had no idea.

"I just wanted to properly thank you for going into the Chamber of Secrets, and saving my life, and I should apologise for putting you in that position in the first place." She said looking guilty. "It was the bravest thing anyone's ever done for me."

"Well….It was nothing," Harry replied quickly, "I mean it was something, I didn't mean to say that you were nothing, just that I'd do it for anyone." He gulped. "Not that you are just anyone, I mean that I was at your house last summer, and Ron's my best mate and well I couldn't just leave you down there." He finished his face a bit red, following his mumbled speech.

Harry took a deep breath. "I mean, your welcome," he finally said, at last.

Ginny's smile had grown wider and wider during his little speech, and her previous apparent nervousness had completely disappeared. "Thank you Harry, for doing it though, you say it like it's nothing, but not many people would have gone into a cavern where they knew a basilisk was." She said.

"Well maybe I'm just a bit thick then," said Harry, then laughed with her. He was intensely aware, of how relieved he was that she hadn't focused on his stumbling words, but had calmly moved on. It didn't make him feel stupid, like it would have if he had done that in front of almost anyone else. Harry was still struggling to get accustomed to the fact that people actually liked and admired him in the wizarding world. His time at the Dursley's had left several deep scars on his psyche, one of which was his lack of self confidence in social situations.

From this starting point, the conversation began to flow more easily, and they began to talk about other topics, and Harry discovered that Ginny also liked quidditch and flying, how she wasn't a allowed to fly at the Burrow but had to do it at night in secret. How she liked walking in the woods near her house, how she missed her two elder brothers, who were both out of Hogwarts, and how she felt a little bit stifled by her mother. But she also saw how Ron might feel a little bit shadowed by her brothers, being the youngest boy.

After a while Harry felt like he had found a new friend, and he saw Ginny for her own sake rather than as Ron's little sister. They finished their conversation, when Hermione and Ron came down from the dormitories and headed off all together to Dinner. Harry with a firm desire to write to her next summer, and keep in contact.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The day of the train ride dawned, and Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione got a carriage together on the Hogwarts Express, Harry was in a pensive mood, he hadn't enjoyed the return trip last year, and he doubted he would ever enjoy these trips. Returning to the Dursley's was like returning to a prison sentence and he begrudged every mile that passed under the train wheels. Ron and Hermione didn't seem to notice, their mind's and voices's filled with thoughts and words of home, missed family and plans for the summer holidays. Only Ginny, sitting opposite Harry seemed to take note of his grim mood.

When Ron and Hermione had got up together to visit the trolley lady, she had taken the opportunity to ask him what was wrong. He had brushed her off, with a mumbled reply about missing quidditch, but he could tell he hadn't fooled her, mercifully she hadn't pushed him, and they enjoyed the quiet noise of the train rolling along the tracks in silence together for several minutes.

It's ok to not want to go home, Harry" Ginny had said suddenly. "But remember that Mum and Dad don't mind you comic over to the Burrow whenever you want, ok" she smiled sweetly at him.

He grimaced back, and tried to hide his face, not knowing how to deal with what she had said. Luckily Ron and Hermione returned then, their arms filled with the treats they had brought back. As the train finished it's journey into Kings Cross, Harry continued to think about what Ginny had said, he realised that she had not meant it in a superior or pitying manner, but in a simple invitation. And by the time that they had stopped moving and were getting their trunks down from the overhead racks, he felt comfortable enough, so that by the time that it was just him and Ginny left in the compartment to speak to her.

" Umm Ginny," he turned to face her, "about what you said, thanks." He said simply, and she gave him a huge grin in return. His heart a lot lighter, he stepped out onto the platform, more confident than he had ever been before about meeting the Dursley's.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The bright sunlight, streaming through the open curtains of his window, woke him the next day, he groaned and rolled over and tried his best to go back to sleep, knowing that Aunt Petunia would wake him long before he actually wanted to get up and that any sleep he could get before then was precious. But it was impossible to return to the dream again, it had been good, something about fire and redness, but for the life of him he couldn't remember anything else. He sighed and turned onto his back, he stretched, his arms above his head and realised he could now touch the headboard while his feet hung over the end of the bed.

It had been a frosty reception by Uncle Vernon, when he had met him through the portal at Platform Nine and Three Quarters yesterday, they had hardly said a word to each in the car journey from Kings Cross to Privet Drive, and Aunt Petunia and Dudley had not been any better when they had arrived. Yet Harry remained upbeat, lighthearted and carefree, this summer would be different he decided there and then, in bed, he wouldn't let the Dursley's get him down, plus he would be able to owl his friends whenever he wanted, so he wouldn't be out of contact like last time.

He pushed himself of the bed and to his feet, if he was going to get up before Aunt Petunia, then he might as well get a nice long shower and maybe a good breakfast, he felt quite hungry. God knows how rare the chance to have the two of them were going to get.

He walked over to the window and stared out at the identical houses of Privet Drive and to the rest of Little Whinging beyond, not much had changed, No 8 Privet Drive still didn't cut his grass very often, which Uncle Vernon would complain about also often. He saw Mrs Figg opening her front door, to allow a multitude of cats racing out, and at the end of the street he read the newspaper board advertisement the corner shop had put out front, it's headline screaming, "CABINET MINISTER CAUGHT IN SEX SCANDAL!" Harry snorted, yes Privet Drive really hadn't changed.

But what Harry didn't realise and wouldn't realise until he got out of the shower and got dressed later, was that he had seen and watched all of this in flawless detail, he hadn't squinted, he hadn't had to focus especially hard, every single thing was perfectly clear and yet his glasses were still on his bedside table, half the room away.

**Author's Note**

**I would just like to take the time to mention, that I do not own Harry Potter, and that some of the writing within is taken from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.**

**I would ****also like to mention that I have been inspired to write this by Midnightjen's Blood of the Phoenix, and stylistically by Deadwoodpecker's Backwards with Purpose, and Darth Marrs's Unspeakable Thinsgs.**

**I value all types of feedback, and will praise reviewers to the heavens. Enjoy**

**TRD90**

**P.S I am currently looking for a beta reader, anyone interested can PM me. Thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Summer

A red pickup braked to a halt at the end of Privet Drive, the man inside leaned out of the open window and pressed the horn the loud noise blaring through the quiet of the easy summer morning. He caught the attention of the teenager previously sitting lost in his thoughts on the garden wall of Number Four Privet Drive, the boy jerked where he sat and looked up towards the car, recognising the vehicle he jumped off the low wall and walked towards it.

The man in the car leaned across the dashboard and pushed the passenger door open as the teenager got closer, the boy grabbed the handle of the open door and swung himself up onto the seat next to the driver, closing the door behind him as the car started to drive off.

"Morning Harry" the man said. "Ready for a day's work."

" Yep Luke, sure am" Harry said in reply. "What's on the cards for today?"

"We're starting a new project, a local client wants us to landscape the grounds surrounding their office," Luke told him, as he carefully navigated through the deserted morning streets. The older man was in his early forties, yet he still looked strong and capable, toughened by the manual work involved in his job. He took a side look at the young assistant he had found for the summer, he was pleased with the changes he saw in the teenager he had taken under his wing.

At the start of the summer he had been working a job, replanting the turf outside Number Two Privet Drive for the homeowner when he spotted the small pale boy toiling away in the front garden of the neighbouring house. It took him three days to finish the job, and everyday he watched Harry work in the next door garden, cutting the grass, painting the fence and tending the plants. He was impressed with the boy's work ethic having never seen someone his age work so hard before, unfortunately he had also witnessed the boy's relatives and their treatment of their nephew had left much to be desired in his opinion.

On the last day of replanting the turf for number two, he settled down to have lunch, sitting on the tailgate of his work pickup, enjoying the bottle of chilled water in the hot summer sun and unwrapping his sandwich. He watched the boy still working in the heat of the day and made a decision, grabbing a second bottle of water he walked over to the boy and offered him a drink. In the following conversation, Luke broached the subject of working for him over the summer, what it would entail, the rate of pay and then finally very delicately Luke discussed with the boy he now knew to be called Harry how to sell it to the Dursley's.

Harry seemed up for it, and so at the end of the day Luke knocked on the door to number four, and talked to the big beefy man who answered it. He exaggerated the back breaking nature of the work he needed Harry for and offered to pay Harry's Uncle a small amount of cash for the use of the boy, Vernon quickly agreed not knowing the money was only a small part of the total that Harry would be earning.

After that, every morning Luke would pick up Harry from outside Privet Drive and drive them to their current job, and over the course of several weeks the two developed an easy friendship and comradely between the two of them. Luke discovered Harry was an equally quick learner as he was a hard worker, he picked up all the skills that Luke taught him very fast, and seemed to be a natural for working with his hands.

They didn't talk much about their personal lives, just the easy chat of men concentrating on their work, Luke was well aware that not everything was alright with Harry's home life but knew enough to know that trying to talk about it to Harry would only make him defensive and liable to vanish. So he kept quiet and focussed on teaching the boy what useful wisdom he could.

He also made it a priority to help with Harry's physical appearance, the boy was nothing more than skin and bone, an unhealthily pale complexion and wearing what looked like baggy rags and torn trainers. The second day that Harry worked for him, after they had finished working he had driven Harry to a builders yard and bought him some sturdy work jeans and work boots that actually fitted. Harry tried to refuse but Luke insisted on it, finally telling Harry it was a matter of safety and that he could pay him back when he earned the money. A couple of days after that, in their lunch break Luke dropped Harry off at a shopping centre along with his first earnings and told him not to come back until he had clothes which fit him.

For fattening the boy up, he left it to his wife, who after she had tracked him down at lunch one day to deliver a packed lunch, had taken one look at Harry and immediately started to make and bring a second much larger lunch every day to the both of them. When he had got back home, Gwen had given him the third degree on why Harry looked so unhealthily skinny, he told her what he knew and after that he noticed regular packages of home made cakes and pies started to appear his car with notes on them to let Harry take them home with him.

Harry had been working for him for nearly two months by now and the changes in the boy were astounding as well as heart warming to Luke, Harry sat in the car seat next to him, staring out at the passing town, fingers lightly tapping on his knee in time with the beat of the song on the radio, he wore scuffed but good, leather working boots, clean blue jeans that actually fit him and a new white t shirt that actually stretched over his now wider shoulders.

That was another positive thing, Harry had shot up in height and actually put some muscle on his his newly lanky frame, he had in truth had to go buy new clothes already since he had started to work for Luke he had grown so much. That coupled with his now tanned skin, meant that Harry looked immeasurably better that he had at the start of the summer. Luke had even noticed the teenage daughter of their last client taking an appreciative look at Harry while he had been carrying bags of cement up the garden.

Luke smiled as he made the last few turns towards their new work site, "he had made the right decision," he thought to himself.

"And when Harry left at the end of the summer to go back to the boarding school he had told him about, he would be left with the satisfaction of having done the right thing and having his faith rewarded." He chuckled to himself as with a crunch of gravel he pulled the car up to their destination.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

Harry stretched as he jumped down from the tall passenger seat and took in the location where they would be working now, he waited until Luke had gotten out of the car as well, before walking around to boot of the pick up and started to unload the tools they would need. Luke walked off to find the owner of the building so that he could know exactly what they needed to do to start working. Harry was careful as he lifted the different tools out of the back of the pick up, some of the machines were heavy and he had become a little bit clumsy recently, Luke had told him it was due to his recent growth spurt, and maybe it was, but it was dam annoying. He had already broken a customers paving stone by tripping while carrying some bricks and he had also accidentally hammered his own thumb once.

Yes, the clumsiness part of it was irritating but Harry was otherwise ecstatic about the recent changes in his body. Always before and especially at Hogwarts he had been skinny and short for his age, god last year most of the first years had been taller than him and that included the girls. But now he wouldn't be the shortest boy in his year, he didn't know exactly how much taller he had grown but he knew that it was quite a bit, maybe a bit quickly but he was just glad that he had finally grown.

He had also stopped being so extremely skinny, he hadn't noticed it as it happened, just that after about a month of working with Luke he had gone for a shower at the end of the day, glad to wash off the dust and sweat that clung to him and caught sight of himself in the bathroom mirror, shocked he stared at the accumulation of the slow changes he hadn't noticed happening. He had muscles! They weren't huge, but they were definitely there, his arms weren't like twigs anymore but had a solidness to them, the same with his shoulders. Also now you weren't able to pick out every one of his ribs anymore but instead he saw a beginning of a six pack and some broad chest muscles had formed. He wasn't vain, but he couldn't help but look at himself, for so long he had considered himself to be somehow physically deficient thanks to the Dursleys, and now it was hard for him to consider himself as looking normal.

He finished emptying the pick up just as Luke came walking back to the car in company with another man, the man wore a suit and shiny black leather shoes and Harry noticed the glint of an what looked like a very expensive watch shining out from just under the man's suit sleeve.

"Steve this is Harry, he's my assistant this summer and he's a harder worker than you'll find anywhere else," Luke said, introducing them. "Harry this is Steven Oswald, he owns this business, and is also an old friend." He finished.

Steve leaned forward offering his hand to Harry to shake, "Hello Harry, I hope this old slave master hasn't been cracking the whip too hard," he joked, smiling at Harry.

"No, it's been great to work for Luke," he rushed to answer, smiling back.

"Good, though I already knew that Luke's a great guy. When we were in school together I have to admit I was a bit of a nerd and Luke here," he clapped Luke on the back, "saved my bacon more than once when it came to bigger kids." Steve said. "So rest assured that your in safe hands."

"Well, apart from stroking my ego, let's get the show on the road," said Luke. "Let's take a tour of the grounds and you can point out to me what you want changed and we can discuss what we could do, Harry start measuring out the width and length of the area so we can know what kind of units we're talking about." With that him and Steve started to walk around the border already deep in conversation.

Harry decided that he liked Steve, he was obviously an important man, yet he didn't talk down to Harry like he had expected, instead he had treated him like an equal, like an adult, though he was a friend of Luke's so he probably wasn't going to be a jerk anyway. This thought made him consider how much me appreciated being treated as an actual person by Luke and other people. Already this summer was turning out to the best time he had ever spent living at Privet Drive.

While he had spent the previous summer and all of his life before that being treated like a second class person, like he was dirt under the Dursley's shoes, he was only now beginning to understand how wrong it had been, before he had been blinded by the routine and normality of the abuse. But this summer he seemed to have a greater understanding of what and why the Dursley's acted the way they did, altogether he had had several epiphanies so far this summer, like how people reacted to you on how you dressed and presented yourself. He now saw that half of the problems he had before in Little Whinging was not the fault of the Dursleys directly but that the shabby way he dressed and how he was repressed emotionally led people to believe the lies that the Dursleys's spread.

He also now understood that being dressed well, not only impacted on what other people thought of you, but it also affected how you thought of yourself, until Luke had forced him to buy new clothes the only items of clothes he owned which had fitted him had been his school uniform, and they hardly counted. As soon as he walked out of the store, in new and well fitting clothes he had felt such a surge of self confidence, it was unbelievable. It was a joy to have shoes and socks without holes, to wear a new pair of jeans without them needing to be belted shut almost twice around his waist, to own clean, stain free t-shirts.

He had also tanned, in the long days spent working in the beautiful summer sunshine, his skin had turned a nice golden colour, he thought that it was probably him having an incredibly poor diet before that kept him so pale as well as the cupboard. After these last two months Harry felt like a new person and some would say he looked like a new person too. He had also come to the realisation that it wasn't only the people of Little Whinging that had started to believe the lies of the Dursley's, with a kind of mild horror he had become aware that he had started to believe the vile vitriol that all three of the Dursley's spewed. That he was stupid and weak, that he was unlovable and unlikeable, that he was an ugly freak and everyone knew it, these thoughts had been like shackles and it had only been during this summer that he began to believe differently.

He started to measure out the grounds, staking the end of the tape measure into the grass at one end of the office's drive, he began to roll out the tape, walking backwards slowly so as to avoid any obstacles, as he unravelled the measuring tape he enjoyed the light breeze blowing across the companies grounds, it cooled him off as the sun had started properly rise by now, it was promising to be a truly hot day. When he had reached the opposite end of the grounds he stopped and marked off the distance on a small notebook he kept on him for details like this, he lifted his head up and looked back at the beginning of the tape thirty three meters and…he looked back down at the notebook…..25 centimetres away and smiled as he saw it in perfect clarity.

This was another thing he was grateful for this summer, it had been a massive revelation when on the first morning he was back from Hogwarts he had woken up with apparently perfect vision, he had no need for glasses anymore and could see even further than he ever could with them. He didn't know how or why his vision had changed but he was still glad, he had never liked his glasses, the taunting of the Dursley's and other children had seen to that, plus the ugly, broken and fixed with tape look of them just lent to his shabby appearance. Now with his fixed vision he could pick out details he had never noticed before, he didn't have to slightly squint to read anymore and everything was just clearer. When he had nervously asked Luke if he had ever heard of someone's eyesight fixing itself, Luke had told him that when teenagers grew that sometimes their prescription changed and that it could sometimes fix short sightedness. This did reassure Harry but he didn't tell Luke that his eyesight had changed overnight as that would just be unbelievable to anyone unfamiliar with magic, he just put the difference down to him being a wizard and left it at that.

He really owed Luke and his wife Gwen a lot, he felt almost pathetically grateful for the chances they had given him and the kindness they had shown. It was only due to Luke asking him if he'd like a job that had kept him away from the Dursley's for most of the summer, it had also allowed him to buy his own new clothes and the food he had gotten had been very good for him he knew. They had also treated him like he was worth something, like an adult, and yet had offered themselves as people he could talk to if he had a question or dilemma. It had been an eye opening experience for Harry and he in turn had flourished.

His thoughts slowed down and he concentrated on finishing measuring the grounds that they would be working on, he finished the last section just as Luke came striding back towards him this time without Steve accompanying him.

"So Harry, what do we have to work with?" Luke asked, and in response Harry simply handed over the notebook with the measurement in.

"Hmm…..right I've talked with Steve and I've got a rough plan of what we have to do, the first job will be for us to remove the existing plant cover here, you start on that and I'll mark out the plans on the ground." He directed Harry.

Harry got to work, cutting through the hedge, piling up the vegetation into the wheelbarrow and then wheeling it away to the dumpster on the property, the work was repetitive and slightly boring, yet Harry enjoyed the physical activity and the bright sunshine felt good on his back as he sliced through the plant life. As he laboured he let his thoughts drift to what else he had been doing this summer.

Unlike last year where he had not heard form his friends at all and he'd been lost in vivid nightmares of being forget, his old insecurities from when he'd been the loneliest child in primary school, scorned and ridiculed by nearly everyone else and if a kid attempted to make friends with him despite this then Dudley and his gang would soon chase them off. When he started Hogwarts in his first year, it wasn't the magic that he had been most amazed and delighted by but that people genuinely wanted to be his friend. Upon returning to the dreary atmosphere of Privet Drive his old fears had re-emerged, maybe he didn't actually have any friends that Ron and Hermione had been pretending to be friend all last year and were now laughing at him behind his back. When Dobby had told him that he had hid his letters from him, Harry had been equal parts angry, relieved and ashamed of himself for doubting his friends.

Well that had not happened this summer, Hedwig had been well exercised flying between the Burrow, North London and Little Whinging. Ever since the first day back from Hogwarts, the three of them had been in contact, Hedwig flying on an almost constant loop between their houses with Errol making the odd appearance. They had talked about the events of last year some more as well as the normal everyday things they had gotten up to during the summer, Harry knew that Hermione and her parents were planning on taking a holiday to France in the next couple of days, that she had been enjoying the weather by reading in the local park. And that she had become vastly irritated with an older girl who lived next door to her house and seemingly kept playing loud music whenever Hermione had been trying to relax in her garden.

Ron too was enjoying the weather, and while he wrote in rather less detail or volume than Hermione, his letters did seem to contain the same sense of holiday fun, of flying and playing quidditch with the twins, of swimming in the local river and of joining Fred and George in walking down to the nearby muggle village and of the pranks the twins had tried to play on the other unsuspecting teenagers there. His letters though did seem to be absent one crucial detail and that was in the many letters that he had sent Harry in the last few weeks there had not been one mention of Ginny, or the ordeal that she had been put through. While this might not have been obvious to a casual observer so filled with fun the letters were, Harry had been thinking of Ginny throughout the summer so her absence from Ron's letters was glaring to him. He hadn't been obsessing over her just that every now and then, at least once a day his thoughts casually moved to her and what she had gone through in the Chamber, well it had shook him up and he wondered how she was managing.

He had written back to both Ron and Hermione, his letters filled to bursting with happiness over how he had a new job, how it had got him away from the Dursleys most of the day, and how great it was to be able to buy clothes for himself. In fact he probably bored his friends as he crammed his letters with extremely specific details of what he worked on that day, the tools he had needed and skills he had learnt. But they had borne it with good humour and hadn't said a thing about it, so their letters continued to flow between the three of them and Harry hadn't felt isolated even once so far this summer.

But unknown to the other two their had been a third person that Harry had been keeping in contact with this summer. After a week of Ron not mentioning Ginny in any of his letters and since Harry's flat out question of "Was she alright?" had been flatly ignored, he had gotten a little bit concerned and deciding that it was worth the anger of Ron if he found out had owled Ginny directly.

Her answering reply had reached him a day later, in it he had found out that Hedwig had managed to go directly to her bedroom window at night and none of her family had seen her, which had been a good thing as Ginny's letter had told him that in an apparent attempt to keep her safe her parents and older brothers were scanning any mail that was sent to her. Ginny explained that while she knew they did this out of a need to protect her and perhaps a slight sense of guilt that she found it stifling and was overjoyed that Hedwig had found a way to get to her in private. Her letter then cautiously asked if it would be ok if they continued to write to each other through Hedwig on the sly as she was going out of her mind cooped up at the Burrow. Harry eagerly agreed and so began their summer correspondence with letters passing between them every two to three days.

Ginny had been even more open to him and talkative in her letters than she had been during their last few conversations at Hogwarts after the ordeal in the Chamber. Harry could almost feel Ginny's frustration, anger and her slight feelings of bewilderment as her family seemed to close up around her in an effort to prevent any further situations similar to the Chamber and the Diary. While Ginny appreciated their concern and in some ways still needed it, the overall effect achieved was that she felt smothered and oppressed.

She told Harry through her letters what she had been doing since the summer started or how little she had been allowed to do. Harry replied in kind, describing what he had been doing during the summer then when they'd exhausted the topic of what they had been up to they started to write about their thoughts and feelings, Harry learnt about the Weasley family dynamics beyond what he'd already known and how Ginny fitted in to it. He told her about his previous isolation and some of his fears about living up to being the boy who lived. Through these written communications Harry felt that Ginny had progressed past the point of being an acquaintance known as Ron's little sister and had become a close friend in her own right.

He had sent off the latest letter to Ginny last night with Hedwig, it was filled with his current thoughts on how she could reassure her family that she was doing ok and his opinions on the up coming Harpies vs Puddlemere quidditch game that to be played soon, Ginny espoused the qualities of the Harpies as the all woman side were her chosen team, while Harry favoured Puddlemere chances.

Harry carried on working at clearing the under bush a subconscious smile on his face as he thought of Ginny and his friends, he let his hands carry on working without almost no conscious control. At some point Luke had finished marking out the plan for the new garden and had joined Harry in the initial clearing of the ground cover. The two men worked on in silent companionship, the smell of flowering plants strong and the sun shining down on them. Harry found it to be strangely peaceful letting the work almost lull him into a meditative trance.

After they had cleared all of the plant life they had needed too they started on to the next part of the job, digging the ditch needed for a decorative water feature. Again the work was monotonous and tough but Harry's back and arm muscles had gotten used to labour like this over the last two months and he made light work of handling the spade and moving the soft soil around.

As the sounds of the spades slicing into the ground and the whispery rustle of the soil trickling back into the hole carried on, Harry thought on the last thing that had changed for him this summer. It had only been two weeks ago when he had discovered it, he had been heating himself some soup on the gas fired stove after coming back from a day's work. The Dursley's were all watching TV in the front room and Harry could hear the muffled canned laughter from the sitcom the three of them were viewing. He had been buttering up a slice of bread to have with his soup, and hadn't heard Dudley come up behind during an advert break, the bigger boy had shoved Harry roughly aside as Dudley made his way over to the fridge. Harry half fell to one side, scrambling desperately for balance and as he did so he flung his left hand out to try and grab something. His hand slammed down onto the stove, upsetting and pushing the saucepan of soup over and fell directly over the naked flame of the gas burner.

For a couple of long seconds Harry didn't do anything just leaned against the oven and glared up at Dudley who was busy with his head in the fridge trying to find yet more food to eat. It was only the slow feeling a warm tickling sensation against his palm that made him look over at the stove, when he saw his hand flat on top of the hot flame he yelped and jumped away, instinctually cradling the hand in question close in to his chest. Yet when he examined his palm and fingers he found that there wasn't a single burn mark anywhere, he didn't understand, his hand had been resting on an open flame for over a quarter of a minute but there wasn't a hint of seared flesh.

This state of affairs had left Harry massively confused, this had to be a case of magic protecting him, yet Harry was sure that even accidental magic couldn't have saved him like this. When he had been seven years old Aunt Petunia had set him start cooking the meals for the Dursleys and in the first week Dudley had decided that this would be a great method of causing Harry more pain. With spiteful intent he had waited until Harry was reaching into the oven to withdraw a casserole then had jumped forward and jogged Harry's elbow so that his right hand had slammed into the heated grill and inner wall of the hot oven. This had resulted in a horribly blistered hand and he had received only the barest measure of care and sympathy from Aunt Petunia before being shut into his cupboard to cry silently in pain. After a long night of agony Harry had slipped into a troubled sleep, but then when Harry was awoken by his Aunt the next morning the burn had miraculously vanished, at the time he had been baffled and at a loss, he no knew that it had been his magic healing him subconsciously when he had really needed it.

But why he now seemed to be impervious to heat and flame he didn't know, it didn't seem to have anything to do with his accidental magic, he hadn't felt the inner surge he associated with his internal magic. It had taken him nearly an entire fortnight to see if he could replicate it on purpose and so last night he he had stolen a candle from downstairs and sneaked up to his bedroom along with a pack of matches. He placed and then lit the candle on his desk and then gingerly approached it. The light coming off the candle was flickering in the dark room, illuminating the shadows in the corners. Harry leaned in and felt the heat of the flame on his face as stared for long minutes at the burning wick as he tried to muster up the courage to press his hand to hot flame. When he he had worked himself up to it he awoke his fearlessness and in one sure movement shifted his hand to rest directly above the candle ready at a moments notice to snatch it back.

He felt that same tickling warmth on his palm but apart from this slight sensation he didn't feel any pain at all, he twisted his hand moving it from side to side now trying to gain a reaction but nothing he did felt any different. More confident now he grabbed the candle in his other hand and started to slowly move the flame up his arm progressing from his wrist, along his forearm and up to his elbow yet he still didn't feel a reaction. Next he tried his other hand in the flame but this produced identical results, running out of ideas Harry took of his sock and actually placed the candle on the floor and lifted his naked foot over it, the sensitive skin of his sole over the flame should have left him screaming in agony but again he felt almost nothing.

He leant down and snuffed out the candle with his two bare fingers once more without causing a blister and stood up giving in to the idea that for whatever reason he was now apparently fire proof. Harry threw himself down onto his bed in frustration, while he could consider being impervious to burns could be useful in the future being who he was and how often he found himself in life or death situations yet another thing that set him apart form normal wizards and witches was something that he didn't need or want. It was bad enough being the only magical person to ever survive the Death Curse, and he for one did not want to add claims of being fire proof to that. He was sure that it would be taken out of context and exaggerated until people would think he was totally invulnerable and the added attention was an irritant that he wanted to avoid.

Because of this worry he hadn't written to any of his friends about this new discovery, Harry by his upbringing was a secretive and private individual at the best of times and he knew that neither Ron or Hermione shared these traits, Ron would invariably reveal the secrets in a temper driven shouting match probably against Malfoy in an effort to one up him, while Hermione had the best of intentions but her need to research all aspects of a puzzle would reveal this enigma as surely as a raging Ron would.

He didn't know what Ginny would do if he told her, for some reason he had half considered the idea of telling her just to hear someone else's opinion, maybe wizards and witches who grew up in the magical world heard about issues like this all the time. And the idea of telling her was strangely appealing he knew that she would keep the secret better than anyone else, he had figured out from her letters that privacy was important to her being as she was surrounded by her large family. But he held back, he didn't want one of few new friends to think he was a freak that he was weird even for the magical world, this fear kept him certain that for now it was better to keep it to himself and only if it became a problem would he go for anyone else for help.

Harry kept on working his hands moving nearly independent of his mind as he allowed his thoughts to go through all that had happened to him recently, it had been a very different summer so far. He stabbed his spade into the ground and winced as it struck a large rock, the vibrations tingling up his hands unpleasantly. The sharp noise and sensation knocked him out of the daydream he had been in and he looked around, the sun was almost directly overhead and the heat was making him sweat through his t-shirt.

He looked around rubbing the back of his hand over his forehead wiping the perspiration away, he spotted Luke standing next to his pick up his upper body leaning into the cabin. Harry climbed out of the shallow pit they had just dug and one handedly thrust his spade deep into the pile of loose earth that had formed during their excavation. He left it standing there and walked over to the pick up, as he neared the car Luke turned around two large brown paper bags held in his fist, he handed one to Harry and the two of them made their way to rear of the pick up, the tailgate was down and they both sat down on it and opened their respective lunches.

Taking a couple of mouthfuls of the ham and cheese sandwich contained within and then a long swig of the bottle of water next to him Harry was left with a sense of near euphoria, feeling the stretch and burn of his well used muscles, the air tasted sweet in his lungs. Harry was happy, it was summer he was living with the Dursley's and unbelievably he was happy.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

At that same moment Ginny was not enjoying her lunch quite as much as Harry was, she along with four of her brothers were sitting around the Burrow's dinner table tucking into the onion tart their mother had just freshly made. She sat hunched over her plate her eyes never leaving her lunch, she didn't want to raise her eyes and see the looks her family were giving her.

The Burrow was enjoying the same sun that Harry was currently working under and it shone bright sunbeams through the kitchen windows, illuminating the room's cheery atmosphere with a golden light. The air smelt of freshly baked pastry and cooked sweet onion alongside the scent of freshly cut grass that drifted in through an open window. But no matter how friendly and inviting the surroundings were the atmosphere in the kitchen was stilted and tense.

It was driving her crazy the way they tip toed around her, she wasn't some fragile doll that needed twenty four hour protection. She had made a mistake and been taken advantage of she knew that now, she accepted it and had made her peace with it. Yes she had been foolish and slightly naive, yes she should have known better and reported her fears the moment she had been suspicious but she had only been a young girl and hadn't been expecting to ever meet such a dark object.

"Tom had been an evil bastard," she thought savagely, "And if Harry hadn't already done it then she would have gladly stabbed his diary half a hundred times." She remembered the way he had emerged from the inky depths of the black book and the pure sense of malevolence that he exuded and the despair she felt that it her fault that he had been released. Hearing Harry tell that it wasn't her fault had also made a difference, she knew that her mistakes would follow her around for the rest of her life and she did have a reason to feel guilty but if other people held her blameless then why should she feel like she deserved a penance.

It had been an ordeal that she had survived and now she could get her life back on track, but it did not help that her family were so dam careful and insecure around her. In a way she actually thought it was a bit strange that she felt so recovered from her trauma, realistically she knew that she should have had mental scars that lasted the rest of her life from these events. While she would never forget, the experiences just didn't seem to have left much damage and she in point of fact felt like a more stable person thanks to the incident.

"Why couldn't they treat her like they used to?" she thought. "Why can't the twins tease and joke with her like they had done last summer, why can't Ron annoy her like he always had, was it possible for Percy to leave her alone like before instead of following her around like an over protective guard dog. And most of all she wanted her parents both of them to look her in the eye and smile without the constant presence of guilt and fear that she saw in their gaze." She brooded on these thoughts as they chased each other around her head.

Her mother finished putting away the loose dishes that she had left out and sat down at the table before cutting a piece of tart for herself.

"So boy's what are your plans for this afternoon, now you've finished your morning chores?" she asked as reached for the serving knife.

"Mitchdutch…." Ron tried to talk through a mouthful of tart only succeeding in spraying crumbs across the table, he tried to again but started to choke and reached for the glass of pumpkin juice at his plate side while Mrs Weasley scolded him.

"Quidditch" he tried again after swallowing the juice. "Me and the twins are going to play quidditch outside." The twins nodding along with him.

"Well have fun dears." Said Mrs Weasley, "but do remember to to keep flying below the trees, I do not want a repeat of the time when I had memory wipe the muggle letter man." She reminded them.

"The Postman, Mum," Ginny tried to correct her.

"Of course dear," Mrs Weasley said absently, then carried on. "What about you Percy?" She asked.

"I'm not sure Mother," he replied. "I may be in my room studying, I wasn't too happy about my History of Magic exam last year and I think I need to study more."

"Well if you want to dear but I'm sure that you did fine, my smart boy." Mrs Weasley said fondly. Percy blushed and tried to ignore the antics of the twins who were busying making faces behind their mothers back at him.

Mrs Weasley seemed happy with the replies she had gotten and fell silent while pulling the pitcher of juice closer to her so that she could fill her glass. Ginny glanced up, not surprised that her Mum hadn't asked about her plans, ever since they had returned to the Burrow after they had left Hogwarts she didn't seem to want Ginny to have any independent plans, happy to have her under her eye at all possible times.

Determined to start making things different, Ginny piped up from her seat, "I'm going to take a walk around the orchard, while the weather is good." As soon as she had finished speaking the sounds of clinking cutlery coming from around the table stopped. All four of her brothers stopped what they were doing and looked at her before quickly pretending they hadn't and looked towards their mother. Mrs Weasley had stopped eating at the same time as her brothers and Ginny saw the flash of panic in her eyes before she obviously controlled herself and spoke up.

"I'm sorry dear, but I need your help in the kitchen with me this afternoon," she tried to smile pleasantly at Ginny.

"Doing what?" Ginny pushed.

"Well I was planning….I mean I think…" Mrs Weasley clearly struggled to think of an excuse for keeping Ginny indoors. "I'm going to need you help with preparing a cake for your father, he works so hard for us." She invented.

"Cool! What kind of cake?" Ron asked excitedly, the fact that the cake had been fictitious up until a moment ago passing over his head.

"Never you mind Ron Weasley!" Retorted their mother flustered, and with that the conversation dissolved back into silence.

Ginny sulked in her seat, yet again she would be forced to help her mother in some chore that decidedly did not need her help. It wasn't that she didn't want to help her mother out, she did her chores along with the boys every morning, but always before she had been finished in an hour or two and been able to go outside and play or read a book. Now her mother seemed determined that at every possible moment that Ginny would be helping or assisting her in some chore or other.

Like for instance, yesterday they had spent three hours polishing the fancy china that Ginny had never remembered using all in an effort to find tasks so that Mrs Weasley could keep an eye on her. Ginny sighed deeply into her tart, her family meant well but if they didn't stop soon then she would be driven mad.

The main problem was the differences in the way that her family and Ginny thought of herself. Before she had left for Hogwarts and entered into the control of Tom, Ginny had thought that it would be a changing point for her family to start thinking of her as a person who able to start looking after herself rather than of still being a little girl who needed protecting.

Instead it had seemed to have been reversed, her parents were even more restrictive, her brothers even more guarded and the family as a whole kept her insulated and shielded. It was made worse by the fact that while due to the events in the Chamber her family had regressed in their perception of her the same circumstances had propelled her to think less like a child and more like an adult than she had ever believed possible.

When she looked back at how she had acted last summer she inwardly groaned in shame, she had acted like such a stupid little girl. It was amazing that Harry treated her as normally as he did considering the way she had behaved around him, he must have thought her a some kind of strange squeaking girl since that was all he saw of her. The things she had been thinking about back then were even more embarrassing, she remembered the daydreams about the boy who lived and princess he would save, with her playing a starring role. The pretend dates that she had planned out and the childish ideas she had about being Harry Potter's girlfriend.

If she could meet herself from last summer then she would be sorely tempted to give herself a slap she had been such a naive stupid little girl she raged in her own mind. But then the new more level headed version of her re-emerged and she calmed down somewhat, yes she had been a naive little girl but then again she hadn't had any reason not to be naive, instead she had been indulged in her childish notions and sheltered from the dangers of the wider world.

Now she felt aged beyond her years, as if the trials and tribulations that she had undergone had somehow matured her thinking processes. She now saw things from an adult's point of view, was able to grasp concepts that she wasn't able to understand before, and realise finally that the world wasn't a fairy tale and that bad events happen to good people. That good things didn't happen to people automatically but you had to fight for them, struggle tooth and nail for joy and what you wanted. She was also much more cautious, more wary of other people and had become downright suspicious in her outlook.

This was her payment and recompense from the events of last year culminating in the Chamber. The mental changes that were a gift and a curse, for as they had given her insight and vigilance they had also stripped her of the veil of childhood delusions and plunged her head first into full grown responsibilities.

So here she was with a personality and mental fortitude of a much older individual than any girl her age ought to yet was surrounded by people who tried to treat her as some helpless and gullible baby.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

"Now you see you have to fold in the flour a little bit at a time to mix the ingredients properly and get the best results." Mrs Weasley told Ginny as the two woman stood at the kitchen counter.

"Maybe I can take over and make the next one Mum?" Ginny asked in an effort to try anything to be interested.

"Not until you've watched me make another one Ginny," said Mrs Weasley brushing the flour off her hands.

"I'll never learn at this rate," she groused.

"Don't take that tone with me Ginny," her mother barked at her. "Until I'm happy and know that you've been listening to what I've been saying then you won't be wasting ingredients when you learn."

Ginny settled down, leaning heavily against the slate counter. While she could have lost her temper and flared up at the injustice she was under she didn't and held her tongue.

"She's only protective because you scared her." She repeated the thought like a mantra in her mind, over and over in an effort to hold her anger and bitterness in.

"Are you feeling ok about what we talked about last month?" Mrs Weasley asked her daughter. "Do you have any more questions, are you able to use the supplies we bought last month?"

"I'm fine Mum, if I have any questions I will come ask you," Ginny said, very eager to get off this topic.

Around a month ago and about an equal time period into the summer Ginny had woken up in the morning in her bed to find blood on her thighs and on her sheets. She knew enough to be well aware of what had happened but she wasn't ready for the visceral emotions that the sight evoked in her. She had quickly jumped in the shower and then after stripped her bed of its sheets and took them to her mother. Mrs Weasley had been calm and collected, she smoothy took the sheets from Ginny and placed them safely to one side. She had then made both of them a cup of tea and sat Ginny down for a long talk.

It had been a weekend and she a had taken Arthur aside and told him to go and take the boys out for the day. Mr Weasley has read between the lines and quickly agreed, with speed he had urged the boys up and out of the house for a day trip to Diagon Alley and then a quidditch game afterwards. The long conversation between mother and daughter had taken up most of the morning and had covered the full range of puberty, how her period affected her and what she had to do about it, the changes in her body that she could expect and the way that people especially boys would change to her view in the next through years.

Mrs Weasley was thorough and patient and the conversation reminded Ginny of all the reasons why she loved her mother. She had had a few questions and her Mum had been understanding and calm about answering them. Ginny had been embarrassed about some of the issues but realised that she needed to know these things and it was important to understand her body.

Then after they had lunch together they had both gone down to the local muggle town and Mum and her had spent some time in the local pharmacy buying the supplies that Ginny now needed. When they had gotten back to the Burrow Mrs Weasley had quickly and dispassionately explained to her how they were used and left it to her with a final reminder that she was available at any time if she needed questions answered.

Ginny had quickly and nearly silently absorbed all the information given to her by her mother and then at the end of their trip into the local muggle town disappeared back upstairs to her room. She sat gingerly on the edge of her bed and felt the ache deep inside her abdomen with a kind of wary detachment. While she wasn't happy that she had this to look forward to every month she was also excited that it showed that she was getting older and becoming a woman and even hoped that this meant that her mother might start treating her as older now.

Ginny crouched on the floor watching the sponge rise in the oven, with a groan for her knees that were sore from kneeling on the stone floor she rose. She had really had her hopes raised that things would work out after that but things hadn't worked out and her mother continued to treat as a child.

"Are you sure you don't have any questions, any worries you might want to share Ginny?" her mother asked again. "Your starting your cycle a bit early, I only started when I was thirteen but it's still within reason."

Ginny really didn't want have comparisons made on this subject and quickly tried to change the subject. "I'm sure Mum…..urrh what flavour of jam will we use for for the filling?" She said.

"Oh, I don't know perhaps we can use some of last of the raspberry jam we made up last year." Mrs Weasley stated absently. "But then again we're running out of it so maybe that can be our task for tomorrow and make some more," she said more confidently.

She couldn't believe it, already her mother had trapped her for all of tomorrow. As she stood there breathing deeply in frustration she felt the two thin straps on her shoulders stretch and was again reminded of something else that had changed this summer. There had been other adjustments so far this summer, along with her period starting she had noticed other more external changes in her body. It hadn't been a week into the summer when she had stepped out of the shower and caught sight of her profile in the bathroom mirror, she stared caught unaware by the way her body looked in the reflection. She hesitantly hopped on the balls of her feet and was rewarded with the faintest sensation of movement on her chest.

After that she felt extremely aware and conscious of every shift and motion of her form and was increasingly nervous of wearing some of her clothes that she had previously liked. Awkwardly she had gone to her mother and asked that she could be taken to get some some bras, her mother and her had gone to Diagon Alley and bought several pairs while she had been shown the correct way to wear them.

She had also noticed that she had grown taller as well, always before she had been a very petite tiny thing small for her age and shorter than her contemporaries, this had become different recently and her taller stature had resulted in a several new wardrobe items. Ron had been his usual jealous self and had thrown a minor temper tantrum when she had returned from Diagon Alley with assorted items of new clothing, when that had gotten him nowhere he had sulked for the following week.

"It's not like it's my fault that Ron and the other boys are able to wear the hand me downs of each other. It's not like I could wear his clothes is it?" she asked herself internally. "If he wanted to Ron could wear my clothes if he cares that much." She snorted imaging Ron dressed up in one of her skirts and finding humour in her own thoughts.

With a loud clatter the brother in question trampled into the kitchen followed quickly by Fred and George, the three of them chatting between them about their latest quidditch game, Ginny overheard Ron complaining how the twins had supposedly cheated and the last goal shouldn't have counted. Her three brothers rushed to collect glasses and fill them from the water tap before gulping down the liquid, it was a hot day outside and the flying had obviously built up a large thirst in them.

"I hope you listened to what I said before about flying low boys," Mrs Weasley admonished them.

"Course," Fred said between heavy breaths. "Can't have Gryffindor's prime beaters banned from flying can we," George finished for him.

"I'll be playing for Gryffindor soon too," Ron interrupted them. "Then it'll be me and Harry winning the Quidditch Cup," he said dreamily.

"I think that Ginny would be playing for Gryffindor before you do," George said trying to get a rise out of Ron.

He achieved his aim as with a roar Ron leapt at him, shouting for him to take it back. Mrs Weasley eventually separated them, using a wooden spoon as an effective weapon along with her tongue.

"Boy's stop it," she cried whacking at them with her culinary version of a club.

"George apologise to your brother right away," she scolded one brother. "And Ron I'm sure that you'll play for Gryffindor one day," she reassured another.

Ginny had also felt insulted by what George had said, while her brothers didn't know that she flew she thought that she was pretty good even if she did say so herself. She hadn't told anyone else but she did share with Ron the dream of playing quidditch for Gryffindor and she did not like anyone else rubbishing the idea even if they didn't know about it.

"I've got just as much chance to play for Gryffindor as Ron," she told Fred and George. "And before you say anything about me being a girl I'll remind you that Angelina, Alicia and Katie will soon hear whatever you tell me," she said smugly as the twins had looked about to speak and then suddenly shut their mouths looking nervous.

"Well it's nice to see out sister still has her claws," Fred teased with her and over the shushing noise their mother was making, Ginny heard George say, "Maybe she needs us to remind her that trying to get one over on us can be dangerous." He said looking pleased.

Later Ginny didn't know what caused her to say what she said next, maybe it was the joy she had felt at the fact that the twins were finally teasing her like they had always done so before. She had missed the cut and thrust of their battles of wit between her and them that had always been a hallmark of the relationship that she had with them. All of her brothers had known to fear her, they had recognised the cunning and tactics she had used in the eternal war of the Weasley family politics as inspired. Her parents had always thought of her as some sweet innocent a view she had purposefully cultivated, her brothers especially Ron and the twins had known the truth, that she gave out as good as she got.

"Well maybe this year you won't try and sneak a look at my diary," she joked and instantly knew that she shouldn't have said anything. The smiles left the faces of the twins as they observed her with concern. Her mum turned to face her with a stricken look in her eyes and Ron dropped the glass of water he was holding into the sink, the loud crash echoing in the now silent kitchen.

The atmosphere turned ashen and the tension racketed up in the room, then before anyone could say anything else Mrs Weasley bustled over to the kitchen sink, making exclamations about his clumsiness on the way. The twins slowly moved away from where they had been leaning on the counter and trudged upstairs to their room. Ron almost ran outside again only pausing to mutter hasty apologies to his mother about dropping the glass on his way out.

Ginny watched all of this horrified at how a simple sentence from her could have had such an affect. Filled with frustration and despair at normality ever returning Ginny followed the twins upstairs to seek solace in her bedroom.

Upon reaching the floor which her bedroom lay on she opened the door painted in a bright blue and stepped inside turning quickly to close it, she leaned her forehead against the cool wood and breathed in deeply trying to control the impulse to cry.

But before she could take more than a couple of breaths she heard a rustling noise coming from somewhere behind her, with a whirl she turned on the spot. Hedwig sat perched on her dresser looking at her with her deep yellow eyes, Ginny hurried over to the owl and began stroking her feathers as she rushed to untie the letter attached to one of her legs, Hedwig chirped blissfully as she enjoyed the petting that Ginny was giving her. Holding the letter in one hand and urging Hedwig to climb onto the other Ginny made her way over to her bed, leaning against the headboard she arched her knees. The snowy owl flapped from her wrist to rest on her raised knee where she could survey the room and still be in reach of Ginny's caressing hand.

"Good girl, your such a clever owl to come up here aren't you," she said smiling at the feathered familiar.

She used her fingernail to slit open the envelope and pulled out the piece of parchment inside, she unfolded the various creases and spread out the parchment across her legs and began to read.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

The thumping sound of her brothers on the stairs woke Ginny out of the thoughts she had been lost in, she glanced at the bedside clock on the table near her and saw that it was near dinner time and that the smells wafting up past her door had probably drawn her brothers downstairs to the table.

She decided that she was hungry enough to join them and got up off the bed, Hedwig who it seemed had fallen asleep on her knee, gave her an angry glare and a yawn as she flapped up of her leg before flying over to perch on the windowsill. Walking over to join the bird at the window she stuck her head out into the cool air of the summer evening, enjoying the breeze against her skin.

"I don't have a reply yet to Harry Hedwig, you can probably fly back to him ok girl," she talked to the owl. Hedwig blinked at her before with a twist of her head she leapt out into the summer night her white plumage turning her into a floating ghostly figure. "Fly safe," she shouted after the disappearing bird.

Stomach rumbling she strode over the door and hurried downstairs to join everyone at the dinner table her thoughts filled with the words that Harry had written to her, laughing at the jokes he had included about the quidditch teams they were discussing and somber thinking about the ways that Harry had tried to reassure her concerning her family. It had been brilliant to write to Harry like she had been and also a massive relief to have anyone that she could talk about these topics to.

Coming down the final steps of the staircase she walked out into the kitchen and tried to ignore the noticeable drop in conversation that occurred when she entered the room. Sitting down at her usual seat she began to parcel out the dishes set in the middle of the table to their respective places, the smell of the roasting chicken in the oven making her mouth water.

There was a whooshing noise from the fireplace and then her father was there, standing in the middle of the kitchen with a one of the largest smiles she had ever seen on his face.

"Hello Weasleys!" he announced to the room.

"Hello dear," Mrs Weasley bustled over to take his coat and briefcase, "how was your day?"

"Fantastic Molly," he replied handing over his things then surprised Mrs Weasley with a long kiss on the lips right there in the kitchen.

"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley slapped her husbands chest as she blushed, berating her husband over the noise of all their children complaining and pretending to vomit.

"What?" he asked unrepentant. "Can't a man kiss his gorgeous wife in his house?"

Mrs Weasley didn't reply but blushed even more heavily and went to put her husbands belongings away. Mr Weasley then went to take a seat at the table greeting each of his children in turn.

Once he had talked to each of them and Mrs Weasley had brought over dinner, followed by Mr Weasley's compliments on how good everything looked, they settled down to eat, but before anyone could try the first mouthful despite Ron's best efforts, Mr Weasley raised his hand up for a pause and silence.

"I've got some good, truly excellent news to share with you Weasleys today," he said. "Today at work I was approached by some gentlemen from the Daily Prophet," he had to stop to silence the questions already.

"These gentlemen had come to tell me that I was the successful winner of the Daily Prophet Galleon Grand Prize Draw," this time he had to stop as the sound exploded from around the table, everyone akin different questions over the top of one another, only Ginny remaining still though a huge smile had appeared on her face.

Speaking over everyone he carried on. "This means that we will have around seven hundred galleons to spend this summer and I was thinking on paying for a family holiday to Egypt to visit Bill and treat everyone to a break." This time the noise was deafening but the overall sense of joy and ecstatic happiness was obvious.

Ginny leaned back in her chair and let the sense of euphoria carry her away, maybe the rest of the summer wouldn't be so terrible.

* * *

**A**.**N**

**Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful reviews.**

**I'm still looking for a Beta if anyone is interested.**


End file.
